Aeroplane.



H'. wf. JACOBS-M. EMERSON.

AEROFLANE.

APPLICATJON FILED )UNE 271911..` l

6 SHEETS-SHEE 2.

)Asi

ATTORNEYS Patented Nwu 6, 1917.

@MJL www,

H. W..JACOBS & R. EMERSON.

AEROPLANE.

APPLlcATmN HLED 1uNE27. 1911.

1 ,245,724. v Patented N01. 6, 1917.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'5 wu@ Mom @i Hom/1223 H. W. JACOBS & R. EMERSON.

AEROPLANE. APPLICATION FILED IUNE 27.19II.

ssHEETS-SIIEET 4.

IIIN. ICOBS IL RLEIVIERSON.

.IEIOILAIII-,v

APPLICATION FILED IUNE 21.1911.

qgmgh Paf-@med N@ 6, 1917.'

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIl II' III III II I II I IIIIII.. III ||I` SP1/ventola' Q A l :tm m i H. W. JACOBS &.R. EMERSON.

AEROPLAN.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27. IQII.

1.2459724. mente@ NIW., 6, 19W.

6 sHE'EIs-'SHEET 6.

I ff

-UNITED STATES PATENT vonirica. l

HENRY w. JACOBS AND RA'FFEQEMERSON, or ToPnxA, KANSAS.

AEROPLANE.

To all whom t may conce/m.'

Be it known that we, HENRY W. JACoBs and RAFFE EMERSON, of s Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have inventedA a certain new and useful Improvement `in Aeroplanes, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The object of our invention has been to provide an aeroplane having, among others, the following advantages: that it shall conp sist of forward and rear aerofoils, or planes,

so as to afford-great stability, and to permit the load, consisting of the engine and passengers, to be supported between such planes, and, more specifically, that it shall consist of three (3)' aerofoils, or planes,or sets thereof, arranged, horizontally, like the three angles of a triangle, so as to permit the load to be supported within such tril angle, and thus to aord both lateral and longitudinal stability tothe aeroplane.

A further object is to arrange such aero# foils, or planes, in tiers, or series, one above the other, so as to secure great lifting power in a machine of small horizontal dimensions. A further object is to place the center of gravity of such a machine at a` lower level than the average center of pressure of all the aerofoils, thus tending to .make a machine of great stability, and automatically balancing. A further object is to provide a running gear, comprising both wheels and skids, thus making the machine light-running and easy to start, and yet giving it great strength to withstand a clumsy, or too sudden, landing.

A further object is to provide two or moreunits of power capable of being independently operated, thus permitting propellers to be operated either at the'same, or different, speeds, and in the same, or opposite, directions, and making doubly sure that the power will'not give out during Hight.

A further object is to so construct the aerofoils that they may be used as rudders, to cause the rising or descent of the machine.

A further object is to provide automatic means for starting the ,engine during flight, and our particular construction comprises means for relieving the compression so that the windmill action of the propellers may set-the engine in motion sufficiently to enable it to be started, and to such ends our after specified.

Specification of Letters Patent.

` Application mea June 27, 1911; serial 110.635,62?.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

- In the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a perspective view of a machine embodying our invention Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the rear tier of aerofoils, and the rear rudder;

Fig. 3 is a detail partlyvin section of joint in the framework;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the framework of Fig..2;

Fig. 5 isa detail view showing the con; nection of a controller wire to a frame member; s s' -v Fig. 6 is a perspective view of theaviators seat, with the parts by whichhe controls the steering; Y

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the running and alighting gear; n

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of one of the pneumatic shock absorbers;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment of our invention, in which there are one tier of planes at the forwardy end of thsi machine, and two tiers at the rearward en L Figs. 10 and 11 are, respectively, a plan view and a vertical partially-sectional view of our engine showing means for opening 'l from the lower ends of the bars l. Each I bar 2, supports a bearing plate 4, as shown in Fig. 3, for the rear tier of planes 5. The.

details of the bearing vmay be widely varied,

but the particular bearing shown consists of a ferrule 6, brazed or otherwise secured in the end of a tube 7, and provided with a dowel lpin S, engaging a slot in a collarbushing 9. A bolt 10 passes through the bushing `and is threaded into the ferrule,

the dowel pin. preventing the bushing from turning with the bolt. Aconnecting .plate 1la is mounted on the bolt, and an anti-fric- :110

tion collar 1l is interposed between such bolt and the plate 4.

The tube 7 connects the pivot joints at Oppss sclcf of lle. mammina. 'i el of ulmns @u nesting; plut@ ll Connects ille mel' cable 3() NAYS Side ffmues for the 'rear tier a Y side. Vertical membeys. or gube, 13 are C0.' moisi L y l ho Mentally below to the members l2, and Curry the planes f3. oi i 10 m'nims seal. bracing Wlos lll are SQCul'ml to ill@ upl'xglxls Il?) for u slewing' slm. l 13, und to the planes fm` Stenug Ausflug" wheel 3%. The 'lhunswle lkwmuxl and rezszmu'll azubi" Q :x pulley .P55

l nl tively; Humm al) lrmnewolli can lilou? ills pvot", he rvSiStiuuc-Q @l L lll which sugli/i ing the contents of the cylinder until a suflicient speed of rotation has been obtained to enable the momentum of the mechanism together with the windmill `action of the propellers to compress and explode a charge.

This can be accomplished by any means which will relieve the engine of the load of -compressing the charges in the cylinders.

, The manner in which we prefer toperform this function is to open the exhaust valves and hold them open until the desired momentum has been obtained. In Figs. l0 and ll, we have illustrated the details of our preferredform of mechanism for this pur-- pose. In such construction the engine consists of cylinders 4:6 and 47' forming part of a frame in which rotates a crank shaft 48.

A connecting rod 49 is pivoted to a piston 50.

The exhaust is controlled by an exhaust valve 5l, having a stem 52, carrying a collar 53, between which and the cylindershead is interposed a compression spring 54. A lever bears against one end of the valve stem and at its opposite end is pivoted to va rod 56, carrying a roller 57, the latter being' forced by the spring 54 against a cam on the usual camlshaft. The cam end of the rod 56 is pivoted to a link 58 hung from a pivot 59 on the frame. The mechanism described is duplicated for each cylinder of the engine. In order to hold the exhaust valve open, the following parts are provided: A bell-crank 60 is pivoted on the vtop of the casing, such crank having two short arms and a long arm. Each'short arm is pivoted to' a link 6l that is pivoted to the upper endof a lever 62, the latter being fulcrumed on a bracket 63 on the frame. Theflowe'r end of the lever straddle's the rod 56 engaging the rod between a nut 64 and a collar 65 thereon. The long arm of the bell-crank 60 is connected bya wire 66 to a hand-'lever 67 fulcrumed on the aviators seat.

When it is desired ,to start the engine durf" ing a` flight of the aeroplane, the aviator moves the hand-lever 67 forward, pullingthe wire 66, swinging the'bell-crank 60, thus 'through the levers 62 forcing the rods 56- away from their cams and opening the ex1 haust valve. This relieves the engine of the der, and allows the windmill action of the `prcpellers to. set the engines in motion.

When suiiicient momentum` has thus been the propellers the charge is-the cylinders.

acquired so that, with the windmill action of canbe compressedpthe hand-lever 67 is released and the next reciprocation of the pistonsv will cause the compression of.. the charge and the'starting of the engines.

The running gear consists of forward wheels 68, and a rear wheel 69. 'The forward wheels are supported from the frame by bars 70 pivoted at their upper ends to the frame, and at their lower ends to the axle of the wheels, which bars are preferably not variable in length. The said wheels are also supported by composite bars 71 (Fig. 8), which are pivoted at their upper ends to the frame of the machine,and at their lower ends'to the axle, and which yieldingly shorten under the blow of the wheel striking the ground in landing. Each bar 71 consists of a cylinder 72 containingv a piston 73 having a piston-rod Til attached thereto, and sliding in a collar 75 fastened` in the cylinder. The cylinder carries an eye 76 by which it is pivoted to the frame, and the piston-rod carries an eye 77 by which it is pivoted to the axle. The piston preferably consists of a cup-leather so that air may pass the piston as it is retracting and is trapped as the piston is driven f0rward. A valve 78 controls the escape of air from piston, the valve being governed by a spring 79 whose tensioncan be regulated by a screw-cap 80.

Thus, when the wheels strike the ground, the pistons are driven upward and compress the air in the cylinders, thus affording a -cushioned and yielding resistance to the rise of the wheels.v

The rear wheel 69 is mounted in the same-- is (considered horizontally) supported byv three planes, or tiers of planes, while the `load is principally in the center and relatively low down, the support 4afl'orded by the lanes is like 'that of the legs of a stool, so t at great lateral stability is obtained. The arranging of the` planes in tiers, and placing'the load relatively low down, tends to make the aeroplane self-balancin and 'yet to-make it very compact.` The lifting power is very great'compared with the cubi- 1 cal space-occupiedl by the machine. load of compressing the charge in the cylin- The travel over the ground, so that the machine can-.readily take flightnd yet the skid will assume the support of the machine if, in

los 

